With crackdown in Worcester, will panhandling move to burbs?

Some police chiefs in communities surrounding Worcester are looking at the tight restrictions placed on panhandlers in case they move out of the city to more friendly towns.

The Worcester City Council this week gave preliminary approval to two ordinances that will affect solicitation on public streets. One — aimed to curb aggressive panhandling — prohibits anyone from soliciting money from motorists while standing in the street, walking in and out of traffic or standing on a traffic island.

Panhandlers have been seen recently in Shrewsbury, on Route 9, just across the Kenneth Burns Memorial Bridge from Worcester.

Shrewsbury Police Chief James J. Hester Jr. said he is not overly concerned. He said there have been a few complaints about the safety of panhandlers being close to traffic on Route 9. State law prohibits solicitation on state roadways without a permit, and the town has a bylaw dating back nearly 100 years that prohibits loitering and obstruction of free passage of other persons on sidewalks, streets, roads and highways.

“We see it occasionally. I don’t expect an influx,” said Chief Hester. “I would imagine these folks are going to stay close to their support systems they have in place, but I could be wrong.”

“Our officers have been pretty effective in getting compliance with these folks to move along when they explain the safety concern that exists,” Chief Hester added.

Leicester Police Chief James Hurley said he hasn’t received any reports of panhandlers in town.

“It’s something we’re going to have to take into consideration, if it does happen,” Mr. Hurley said. “We’re going to have to be on high alert for it.”

Auburn Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. is perhaps watching the issue more closely than most of his counterparts. He said he met Wednesday with Town Manager Julie Jacobson about what the town should do if panhandlers move from Worcester to Auburn.

“I suppose they will go somewhere,” the chief said. “If it becomes an issue we would draft a bylaw and take appropriate action if it became problematic.”

Rodney L. Budrow, deputy police chief in Webster, which is about 15 miles and three towns away from Worcester, said he and Chief Timothy J. Bent are also keeping an eye on Worcester’s panhandling problem.

He said Webster has many of the same social problems and crimes as Worcester, on a smaller scale. There hasn’t been an issue with panhandlers, he said.

“The chief and I have been discussing it to try to be proactive … to come up with a possible bylaw. But there are no plans on the horizon,” he said.

“I would assume some of those panhandlers in Worcester are living in shelters. We don’t have any homeless shelters” in Webster, Deputy Chief Budrow said.

Worcester City Council also gave preliminary approval to an ordinance that bans so-called “tag days,” when charitable organizations and youth sports groups solicit money from motorists. A final vote on the two ordinances will be taken Jan. 29.

Grafton Police Chief Norman A. Crepeau Jr. said he hasn’t had a problem with panhandlers coming to his town, nor does he expect one.

“Once in a while you see someone outside a store asking for a dollar or something like that. But we haven’t had anybody standing in the streets stopping cars,” he said.